I'm thinking of getting rid of the cross strut on my 7/8 Renthal bars, anybody have experience with this?
Will this sacrifice a noticeable amount of rigidity in my handlebars ?

I'd say the manufacturers put the cross bar on for a reason. I'ts not needed on the oversize 1 1/8" bar due to it's increased diameter. My kids used to bend the cheap alloy 7/8" bars on their 80's and 100cc bikes. Now that they are on big bikes they all have the big bars. No more bent bars. Actually I shouldn't say this. My son is a PROFESSIONAL crasher. I wouldn't do it.

so I succesfully tested out my temp stock probe on the oil dipstick with success on a long 3 hour WOT run pretty much

normal for xrs to burn some oil or EXPELL it out the breather, so Im not worried about that

I started with a mid level dipstick reading before the ride(remember it will read a bit higher once warm) and ended with the level at a 1/3 of the way up the dipstock or exactly where the TEMPERATURE dipstock ends

my goal was to succesfull get a WRONG reading using the low oil level symptom

how

run wot for over 30 minutes uphill.

The "warning" light appears when the temp drops 100 degress fahrenheit ok? that happened to me almost getting home,it went from 260f to 175f and stood there unless I wheelied and got some oil on the temp dipstick.

Needles to say the temp dipstsick was reading oil frame tank AIR temps(but you guys know that, so duh)

so

if anybody wants to do this just ADD a hole on your dipstick, DO not remove the old dipstick, just add a hole to the actual stock cap

Anyone find the gold valves worth it? Racetech is about 30 miles away. My shock is leaking, time for seals. My local Honda dealer will charge $90 for the cleanout, reinstall seals, service. Racetech is close in price but for 169 more get a gold valve. Have you guys found this worth it? Don't have any real complaints now but I haven't done enough high speed edges to remember if the shock is a problem.

Benefit to Honda is I can get it back in 3 days. I also don't have the factory manual, only the clymer's. Looks like air box comes out, disconnect links, out thru top?

Anyone find the gold valves worth it? Racetech is about 30 miles away. My shock is leaking, time for seals. My local Honda dealer will charge $90 for the cleanout, reinstall seals, service. Racetech is close in price but for 169 more get a gold valve. Have you guys found this worth it? Don't have any real complaints now but I haven't done enough high speed edges to remember if the shock is a problem.

Benefit to Honda is I can get it back in 3 days. I also don't have the factory manual, only the clymer's. Looks like air box comes out, disconnect links, out thru top?

thanks

CB

Others may chime in with better solutions, but it's my experiance that removing the swing arm and wheel is the way to go!
I took it apart the way you were thinking but had a great deal of trouble trying to refit...the bolts exspecialy...when reassembling everything.

And in my case I know nothing but stock
What's a gold valve? with the price of gold...might be worth looking into!
If they get hot in the recycle market like catalythic coverters then theives might be after your bike to sell scrap from the shock...
Just a joke...not funny...

While we are on the subject of suspension... the PO had told me that he turned the dial on the rear shock reservoir all the way to soft because he was so short (ya, he wasn't the smartest...) And the rear felt pretty squishy, so I was playing around with the knob and I couldn't feel any difference, even if I turned it all the way to hard. Is it possible that my rear shock needs to be rebuilt? I noticed a little air nozzle on the reservoir, could it just need a "recharge?" Sorry if I sound like a complete noob, I am pretty lost when it comes to suspension.

While we are on the subject of suspension... the PO had told me that he turned the dial on the rear shock reservoir all the way to soft because he was so short (ya, he wasn't the smartest...) And the rear felt pretty squishy, so I was playing around with the knob and I couldn't feel any difference, even if I turned it all the way to hard. Is it possible that my rear shock needs to be rebuilt? I noticed a little air nozzle on the reservoir, could it just need a "recharge?" Sorry if I sound like a complete noob, I am pretty lost when it comes to suspension.

It could be different, but on my 650R's shock on the bottom by the chain there's another adjuster. Don't have to remove anything, just right by the lower chain. It's probably different on the 600R, but you could check. Made mine a lot stiffer.

While we are on the subject of suspension... the PO had told me that he turned the dial on the rear shock reservoir all the way to soft because he was so short (ya, he wasn't the smartest...) And the rear felt pretty squishy, so I was playing around with the knob and I couldn't feel any difference, even if I turned it all the way to hard. Is it possible that my rear shock needs to be rebuilt? I noticed a little air nozzle on the reservoir, could it just need a "recharge?" Sorry if I sound like a complete noob, I am pretty lost when it comes to suspension.

Jump on the seat. if it pogos more than 1 time, you'll probably need a rebuild. There's only two settings on this shock, compression and rebound. The preload is handled by the spring. The air nozzle is for the bladder. It's supposed to be charged to 112psi, but that won't affect the pogo-ing.

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